My latest response at the Washington Post’s On Faith site is now up.

Here’s this week’s panel question:

President Obama’s 10-day Asia trip includes visits to India and Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim country.  The president chose not to visit the Sikh Golden Temple in Amritsar during his time in India because it required a head covering that his advisers feared would fuel speculation about his faith. A Pew study showed that nearly 20% of Americans believe falsely that the president is a Muslim.

The more Obama reaches out to Muslims, the more his critics are likely to slander him,implying that he is not a Christian.  An example is his April 2009 speech in Turkey, in which he said, “We do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation, we consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values.” The president’s critics have seized on that statement, insisting that he rejects the Christian foundations of America.  Is Obama stuck between a rock and a hard place? If you were the president, how would you handle this dilemma?

Here’s an excerpt from my response:

“When Obama says we aren’t a Christian nation, he isn’t negating Christianity’s role, for good or ill, in shaping our country’s history. Instead, he is acknowledging that we live in a secular, multi-religious society, where Wiccans, Buddhists, Hindus, Humanists, and Christians must all learn to coexist and work together to face our nation’s problems. That secular democracy can work in a country teeming with religious diversity, with no one group (in theory) imposing its moral will on another. The kind of democracy some would like to see “exported” to the Middle East. The moment we abandon our secular democracy so we can call ourselves “Christian America” is the moment we lose any moral higher ground we might have on the world stage when it comes to negotiating with or combating theocracy. In India, where the president just visited, some want to officially make the country a “Hindu Nation” a prospect that worries many Christians and Muslims living there. If we cast off our secular robes, whats to stop India, or Turkey for that matter, from following suit?”

I hope you’ll head over to the site and read my full response, and the other panelist responses, and share your thoughts.

The Lincolnshire Echo reports that the issue of adding Paganism to religious education in Lincolnshire schools was brought up at the Lincolnshire County Council’s body for religious education. The Daily Mail, covering the story in its sensationalist fashion, says that schools have been given the “go-ahead” to teach Paganism, though that isn’t exactly the ringing endorsement the paper is trying to imply in its headline.

Debbie Barnes, Assistant Director of Children’s Services for Lincolnshire County Council, said individual schools can decide whether or not to teach Paganism. She said: ‘Currently the county council’s RE curriculum for schools does not include Paganism, which is determined as covering a broad range of beliefs and practices. ‘There is no direct guidance about whether it should be included in the school curriculum and it is left to individual schools to make a decision about whether to include it. ‘Our RE Adviser has agreed to monitor national guidance on this and any changes that occur.’

So, in essence, individual schools could, if they wanted to, teach Paganism alongside other faiths. But it isn’t a mandate from on high, nor are there any concrete plans reported from any school to start including Paganism. It’s a story about a possibility, one that seems inspired by the recent Charity Commission approval of The Druid Network‘s application for religious charity status (both articles mention it).

There’s been a bit of increased Pagan paranoia from certain corners in Britain since that decision. As though it signals the looming takeover of modern Pagan faiths in England. You have the BBC being accused of being too Pagan-friendly, and groups like the The Christian Institute complaining about the “marginalization” of their faith, but is the hand-wringing over police guidelines and influence over museum policy distorting the reality? Christianity Today claims that, according to recent survey findings, the Christian demographic free-fall has leveled off.

“The numbers showed Church of England attendance holding fairly steady since 2001 at just under 1.2 million. Catholic attendance leveled off in 2005 at a little more than 900,000, while Baptist Union attendance increased modestly since 2002 to nearly 154,000. The findings contradicted recent forecasts. Retired Christian Research director Peter Brierley earlier this year projected further decline, including an alarming drop-off among young adults. ”He may well prove to be right, but in the short term there’s a pickup we thought might encourage the churches,” Hudson said.”

So Christianity isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, though their largely static (but sizable) numbers still have to deal with a growing Pagan population. It is hoped that with the 2011 Census modern Pagans will be able to coordinate enough to get a better picture of their numbers, and if the increase is large enough, the question of Paganism being taught in religious education at schools will become a more serious one. In the meantime, if any local schools in the UK do start teaching Paganism, please let me know right away!

[Reprinted from Pagan Newswire Collective Minnesota bureau. Article by Cara Schulz.]

An area Wiccan discovered first hand what most of us are still unaware of – many flyers are now being forced to choose between allowing a TSA agent to see them naked or to have their genitals touched and squeezed as part of what the TSA terms “enhanced pat downs.”  Celeste, a survivor of rape, described her experience with the new TSA procedures as devastating.

Celeste is a seasoned air traveler. She estimates that she flies upwards of 60 times a year for her job and she knows all the ins and outs of most airports in the USA. Want to know which airport has the best sushi? Celeste can tell you. What she, and most other people didn’t know, was that on October 29th the TSA changed their security guidelines. “I flew to Chicago with no problems.  Everything was the same as before.  It was when I attempted to fly back to Minnesota that I found out about TSA’s new rules.  What they did to me, in full view of everyone else in line, was like being sexually assaulted all over again.  I was in shock.  I hate myself that I allowed them to do this to me.  I haven’t been able to stop crying since.”

Previously, flyers walked through a metal detector and some persons were randomly selected for a pat-down that avoided the face, genital areas, and hair.  This was the procedure that Celeste was familiar with. Then came the full body scanners, a device that uses powerful advanced imaging technology (AIT) to allow TSA agents to see the naked bodies and genitalia of travelers. Not only have people expressed concern over being seen naked and having their photos stored in the machine, there are also health concerns from the scanners.  Captain Dave Bates, president of the Allied Pilots Association, sent a letter to all 11,000 American Airlines pilots urging them to decline the full body scan, ”It is important to note that there are “backscatter” AIT devices now being deployed that produce ionizing radiation, which could be harmful to your health. “

Celeste is opposed to the AIT devices, “I knew there were more and more of these scanners coming on line at airports.  I try to pick a line where there isn’t one installed yet, but this is getting harder to do.  I fly often and I don’t want the extra doses of radiation and I hate the thought of people looking at me naked.  Why should I have to let people see me naked to get on a plane?    This is my body, I’ve worked many years to re-establish the feeling that I’m allowed to have control over my body after being raped. Even the thought of that leaves me feeling dirty and vulnerable again.”

About 500 scanners will be operational by the end of this year.  Five hundred more in 2011.  Ultimately, the new machines replace metal detectors at all of the roughly 2,000 airport checkpoints.

Coming back from Chicago, Celeste, like increasing numbers of travelers, was forced to make a difficult choice – either allow strangers to see her naked or allow strangers to touch and squeeze her breasts and groin in full view of other travels and TSA agents.  “This was a nightmare come to life,” Celeste says, “I said I didn’t want them to see me naked and the agent started yelling Opt out- we have an opt here.  Another agent took me aside and said they would have to pat me down.  He told me he was going to touch my genitals and asked if I wouldn’t rather just go through the scanner, that it would be less humiliating for me.  I was in shock.  I couldn’t believe this was happening.  I kept saying I don’t want any of this to happen.  I was whispering please don’t do this, please, please.”

Since Celeste didn’t agree to go through the scanner, the enhanced pat down began.  “He started at one leg and then ran his hand up to my crotch.  The cupped and patted my crotch with his palm.  Other flyers were watching this happen to me. At that point I closed my eyes and started praying to the Goddess for strength.  He also cupped and then squeezed my breasts.  That wasn’t the worst part.  He touched my face, he touched my hair, stroking me.  That’s when I started crying.  It was so intimate, so horrible.  I feel like I was being raped.  There’s no way I can fly again.  I can’t do it.”

The TSA has said that travelers will receive the pat downs by same sex TSA agents, but both Celeste and other flyers have refuted this.  (See linked stories below)

She said that fellow travelers, after seeing what happened to her were more willing to go through the full body scanner.  She noticed some, with small children, left the security line, refusing to put their children through the scanner or allow an adult to touch them that way.  “What they did to me was criminal.  I feel they are doing that demeaning of a body search to coerce others into going though the scanners.  They made it as horrible as possible as a lesson to others, let me see you naked or I will touch you like I touched her.”

In an article for The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg  seems to agree with Celeste’s assessment that those who refuse the scanner are made into object lessons:  

The second lesson is that the effectiveness of pat-downs does not matter very much, because the obvious goal of the TSA is to make the pat-down embarrassing enough for the average passenger that the vast majority of people will choose high-tech humiliation over the low-tech ball check.

Consumer Traveler also agrees that this type of pat down is meant as a punishment:

However, when meeting with privacy officials at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and TSA later that month, I was told unofficially that there were two standards of pat-downs. One for the normal situation where passengers are going through metal detectors and a different pat-down for those who refuse to go through the whole-body scanners.

With this latest announcement, TSA admits that it has been clandestinely punishing passengers for refusing to go through the invasive whole-body scans with an even more intrusive aggressive pat-down and that soon those more invasive pat-down will creep from airport to airport.

Celeste’s experience is not an isolated one.  Travelers, aircrew, and journalists are beginning to recount stories very similar to Celeste’s.

Body-Scan Alert: Not SufferingIndignities at Airports by Zahir Ebrahim

Interview with a traveler on Infowars

USA Today – Airport Screeners Get More Aggressive

Thousands Standing Around – a blog containing testimonials of travels experiences with the “enhanced pat down”

Celeste lost composure repeatedly during the interview.  When asked if she wanted to continue or stop the interview she said she needed to tell this story.  “People have to know what these new procedures are and how they affect people.  This has to stop.  It has to.  Contact your Congressperson.  Write to the President.  Get them to get involved.  Speak out about this, pass my story on to others.”

As for how this experience has affected Celeste, in addition to the emotional trauma she is still suffering from this may also take a financial toll on her life.  Her job requires her to fly and now she worries about her financial security, “What will I do now?  If I can’t fly, I can’t do my job.  Jobs aren’t exactly plentiful.  I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

ADDENDUM: The ACLU is collecting TSA screening abuse reports now in order to determine the scope of this problem and evaluate future action.

A few quick news notes to start off the week.

The Case of the Disappearing Library Books: The Lewiston Sun Journal in Maine tackles an oldie but goody, which books “have legs” in the local public library, that is, which books are most often stolen.

“It’s like you know as soon as you order them; it’s almost like you have a betting pool. Anything to do with Wicca, witchcraft, supernatural, things like that. Especially the spells.” At her library, those books seem to bolt before they’re checked out, taken directly off the shelves. The library simply reorders every once in a while. Increased use of eBooks will help, she said — there’s nothing physical to lose. Her best guess on why it happens? “You know, I think there probably is just a little bit of fear that somebody’s going to judge. ‘They’re going to think I’m into something weird,’” Neal-Shaw said. “It’s almost like they’re trying to hide it from themselves; they haven’t come out of the Wicca closet.”

An informal survey conducted in 2001 by the American Library Association found similar results, books on Witchcraft, Paganism, and the occult get nicked on a regular basis. Why? Well, there’s the shame theory, as elucidated above, and there’s the anti-occult thievery theory as well.

“People take them because they don’t want other people to read about witchcraft, and people use them without returning them. I think we have a little bit of both going on.”

While there’s no doubt that some library Pagan/occult sections are getting thinned due to anti-Pagan sentiment, those perpetrators usually like to make a public statement regarding their actions. I think in many cases it is simply individuals who believe they have a right to keep a book, and lack the moral clarity to see how their actions harm other library patrons. It’s hard enough finding decent occult and Pagan-oriented library collections, and these thefts only make it harder. After all, why waste money on books that will simply get stolen?

Alan Moore on Austin Osman Spare: Writer and practicing magician Alan Moore (Promethea, Watchmen) discusses the British fine artist and magician Austin Osman Spare on BBC2.

The tribute to Spare was in timed to the closing of an exhibition of his art at Cuming Museum. You can find some of Spare’s occult writings, here. You may also want to check out this profile in the Fortean Times.

Christine O’Donnell Dominates: She didn’t win the election, but she did win more election-season coverage than any other political figure short of the President. Thanks to “dabble-gate”, and other embarrassing incidents, Delaware Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell dominated the news cycle, dragging a large number of Pagans into the spotlight with her.

What does it mean? Well, that there is such a thing as bad press, and that the mainstream media was more interested in talking about O’Donnell’s tenuous ties to “witchcraft” than about the real issues Americans actually cared about. Certainly this isn’t what I was hoping would be the most-reported story involving modern Pagans this year. In my heart I’d like to think this could be a wakeup call for the press, but I highly doubt it.

That’s all I have for now, have a great day!

The New York Times has an excellent look at the rise of Taoism in modern China, and how that indigenous polytheistic faith is returning in the nation’s countryside.

“Now, with three decades of prosperity under their belt — the first significant period of relative stability in more than a century — the Chinese are in the midst of a great awakening of religious belief. In cities, yuppies are turning to Christianity. Buddhism attracts the middle class, while Taoism has rebounded in small towns and the countryside. Islam is also on the rise, not only in troubled minority areas but also among tens of millions elsewhere in China.”

The article focuses on two important people in China’s Taoism boom, Abbess Yin Xinhui, who is a favorite of the people, and travels the country playing music and raising money to rebuild temples, and wealthy businessman Zhu Tieyu, “the king of building materials.”

Until recently, Zhu mostly ignored the contradiction [between Communism and Taoism], but he has become more cautious, emphasizing how he loved Taoist philosophy and playing down the religion. Still, Zhu continues to support conventional Taoism. His staff takes courses in a Taoist form of meditation called neigong, and he has sent staff members to document religious sites, like the supposed birthplace of Laotzu, who is worshiped as a god in Taoism. He also has close relations with folk-religious figures and plans to establish a “Taoist base” in the countryside to propagate Taoism. “The ancients were amazing,” Zhu says. “Taoism can save the world.”

The whole thing is worth a leisurely Sunday read, and really does a nice job of showing that Taoism never really went away, just went underground during the height of Communist repression.

“The speeches were barely over when Abbess Yin picked up again. As the ceremony reached its climax, more and more people began to appear, seemingly out of nowhere, on the barren mountain face. Four policemen tried to keep order, linking arms to barricade the door so the nuns would have space for the ceremony. “Back, back, give the nuns room,” one officer said as the crowd pressed forward. People peered through windows or waited outside, holding cameras up high to snap pictures. “The Jade Emperor,” an old woman said, laying down a basket of apples as an offering. “Our temple is back.” Abbess Yin moved in front of the statue, praying, singing and kowtowing. This is the essence of the ritual — to create a holy space and summon the gods to the here and now, to this place at this moment.”

What the growth of these different faiths within China will mean for the country’s future remains to be seen. For now the government sees religion as a way to keep their regime in power, but that can change as the various religious leaders start having their own ideas. If China’s Communist leadership ever crumbles, what will it mean for the millions of polytheists living there?

While most coverage of last week’s election focused on the national Republican wave, there were all sorts of things being voted on in addition to the politician with an R (or D) next to their name. For example, Oklahoma voters approved a measure that would ban the application of Sharia law in their state.

“This measure amends the State Constitution. It changes a section that deals with the courts of this state. It would amend Article 7, Section 1. It makes courts rely on federal and state law when deciding cases. It forbids courts from considering or using international law. It forbids courts from considering or using Sharia Law. International law is also known as the law of nations. It deals with the conduct of international organizations and independent nations, such as countries, states and tribes. It deals with their relationship with each other. It also deals with some of their relationships with persons.”

Last year, as ThinkProgress points out, Oklahoma passed, with many of the same backers, the Ten Commandments Monument Display Act, which ordered “a monument to the Ten Commandments on the grounds of the Oklahoma State Capitol” to be erected, and goes on at some length about how Biblical law has influenced American law and judicial decisions. Well, no longer, according to Rick Tepker, a member of the University of Oklahoma School of Law faculty.

“Many of us who understand the law are scratching our heads this morning, laughing so we don’t cry,” he said. “I would like to see Oklahoma politicians explain if this means that the courts can no longer consider the Ten Commandments. Isn’t that a precept of another culture and another nation? The result of this is that judges aren’t going to know when and how they can look at sources of American law that were international law in origin.”

Oops! Aside from the foot-shooting irony at play here, the main problem was overreach. You see, many of the activists/politicians/pundits really, really worried about the implementation of Sharia law are also very, very, concerned about Americans being subject to “international law”, and want us to pull out of the UN and ban US judges from considering legal precedents from other countries when making decisions. The problem is who decides what’s “international law”? The Ten Commandments certainly weren’t written in Oklahoma.

Now, this amendment is being challenged, and may never be enforced (and for some very good reasons), but what a lost opportunity! Imagine a gay marriage decision where judge is banned from even “considering” Christian law! Pagan custody cases and religious discriminations cases would have to be decided on secular law alone without a hint of Christianity lest the case be open to challenge. But this is just an idle musing on my part, in the end this amendment will be rolled back because there are too many unintended consequences to deal with.

“It’s hard for me to believe the current surge of paranoia about Sharia law, and growing hostility to any kind of accommodations to our Muslim minority, won’t ultimately unleash forces of intolerance that will undercut our [Judaism's] own hard-won games as a religious minority with special needs. This also touches on the issue of religious land use, which I blogged about the other day, and the idea that the surge of hostility to Islam that is already resulting in fierce resistance to mosque building projects across the nation will almost certainly come back to bite us.”

If these legislators and voters were really as concerned about “creeping Sharia” on American soil as they say they are then we should be more concerned about integrating Muslims into secular American society than alienating them by passing dodgy laws and cranking the rhetoric up to “11″. However, even if you think we need to enact nationwide bans on Sharia law and pass draconian laws to “control” the Muslim “problem”, there’s still one issue all religious minorities need to consider. If we allow ourselves to single out a faith for censure in our law-making, no matter how noble we believe we’re being in the process, how long before that slippery slope is turned towards the next belief system to cause anxiety?

It seems ridiculous, but there was a time when mainstream politicians were working to ban Pagans from the military. There was a time, not so long ago, when innocent men and women were being locked up for imaginary “Satanic” crimes (with some still in prison awaiting justice). Some Witches and Pagans were so paranoid during that time that they were more than ready to throw actual Satanists under the bus. It isn’t so hard to envision a new moral panic to come ’round the bend and catch us in its sights once the Muslim threat stops being politically expedient. Or maybe it will be Santeria getting conflated with illegal immigration and drug-running, or Vodou being blamed for our economic hardships, the roulette wheel of fear is always turning and you never know when or where it will stop.

When you play around with our laws and constitutions to score political points there are always unintended consequences. The further we stray from our core principles because we fear the “creeping” menace of some religion, philosophy, or political party the more we open ourselves up to injury. The more we feed the beast of fear, the hungrier it gets. Stir in bad economic times and entrenched polarization and you flirt with disaster. As Pagans we need to be be wary of any “solution” that focuses on a single people, faith, or way of thinking, lest we find ourselves on the next ballot initiative.

Just some quick news notes for you on this Saturday.

Revenge of the Traffic Enforcement Agent: NYPD parking agent Daniel Chu, who got into an altercation with New York City Councilman Dan Halloran this Summer over his on-the-job behavior, is filing a $2 million libel and slander lawsuit against the Heathen politician claiming “maliciously false statements.”

“In his slander and libel defamation notice, obtained from the comptroller’s office, Chu called Halloran’s charges “maliciously false statements.” Chu claims the alleged damage to his reputation cost him $2 million, without explaining why. Chu was ordered “disciplined and reassigned” after the incident, the NYPD said today. He had once been ordered into “sensitively training” for allegedly badgering drivers…”

I don’t think Chu will be getting far with this lawsuit. For one, a judge has already vindicated Halloran’s behavior in that conflict, and secondly, Chu even admitted to the charges against him in a disciplinary hearing. When asked for comment, Halloran called Chu a “nut job”, and that the “basis of the claim is ridiculous.” For more on Dan Halloran, check out the recent Pagan+Politics interview.

Parliament Council Announces New Trustees: The Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions has announced the election of seven new Trustees for a three-year term. Among them are Anju Bhargava, founder of Hindu American Seva Charities, Hindu scholar Dr. Anant Rambachan, and Mr. Christopher Peters.

“Christopher Peters (Pohlik-lah/Karuk) was born and raised on his people’s territories in northwestern California. He is President and CEO of the Seventh Generation Fund for Indian Development, a Native led Indigenous Peoples public Foundation which supports grassroots Indigenous communities in the Americas and beyond. For more than thirty-five years his work has focused on grassroots social justice organizing, protecting sacred sites, working for holistic community renewal, rebuilding traditional economies, and supporting cultural revitalization efforts. Chris is a well-known and leading advocate for the protection of Native American prayer places and ceremonial life with long experience and expertise on the legal aspects of these issues. He has fought on the frontlines of environmental justice struggles to protect aboriginal ecosystems from the devastating effects of clear-cut logging, dam development, mining, recreational development and the negative impacts that the nuclear industry and globalization has inflicted upon Indigenous Peoples and homelands. Chris has a B.S. degree from the University of California, Davis, and an M.A. degree from Stanford University.”

Of the Council’s 35 Trustees there are now three American Indians, four individuals in Hindu or Hindu-derived traditions, one (possibly two) Buddhists, and three modern Pagans (Andras Corban-Arthen, Phyllis Curott, and Angie Buchanan). This is definitely a step in the right direction towards greater diversity in the Parliament’s leadership, one hopes we’ll see more indigenous and non-monotheist voices (particularly from Africa, South America, Australia, and Asia) in the future.

PNC Bureau Highlights: Finally, I wanted to share some highlights from the Pagan Newswire Collective local news bureaus, starting with a report from PNC-Washington DC concerning a panel at the Newseum on Covering Religion in the Post-9/11 World.

“It was widely acknowledged that the state of religion reporting in the U.S. is lacking (the word, “crisis,” was used by one panel member.) There are less reporters now who specialize in religion coverage, there is difficulty in some cases in finding spokespeople for a given movement, and there is a lack of both religious literacy and religious freedomliteracy. These factors have combined to create a situation in which the quality of religion reporting in the U.S. is less than optimal.”

It seems very clear that this is the moment for Pagan news media to get organized and step into the gap created by the major shifts happening in mainstream journalism and religion reporting. I’d also like to point you to a recent editorial at PNC-Minnesota on Pagans and non-profit corporations.

“There is a growing trend in our Pagan community to incorporate as non profit corporations and seek federal 501c3 status. Some of the well founded reasons for this trend are to gain the implied legitimacy this status implies, to protect volunteer staff and members from some liability issues, accept tax deductible donations, and to establish spiritual, service, and community organizations that endure. What has not kept pace, in my opinion, is an awareness of the terms upon which our government grants this special corporate status, and the duties and obligations leading these organizations then requires.”

There are some good insights and suggestions to be found for those looking to take the step into becoming a non-profit. Lastly, keep an eye on PNC-Florida as they post updates on the currently in-progress Samhain Florida Pagan Gathering.

That’s all I have for now, have a great day!